Featured Cover Agent in Top Agent Magazine
My story was featured in the Top Agent Magazine On the week week of April 23, 2018. You can see the article when you click on the image above.
Tina Plett, Sutton Group-Kilkenny Real Estate
News
What is Virtual Staging?
What is Virtual Staging?
Virtual Staging is the use of software to stage the photos of a home. The key to doing this well is to have good quality photos to begin with and then have a skilled Stager do the decorating.
When would you use Virtual Staging?
Virtual staging would only be done in a VACANT HOUSE.
What is the benefit of Virtual Staging?
- NO added costs to hire a stager
- NO added cost to get content insurance for furniture
- NO damaged walls from moving furniture in and out
- No risk of furniture being stolen or vandalized
- Increased perception of value
- Buyer is able to picture what the space is to be used for
See the difference in the following examples:
This first photo is an odd room. The window does not appear to belong to a specific room. We cannot see what is behind the wall. Can you see how these two options help clarify the use of this space?
Tina Plett, Sutton Group-Kilkenny Real Estate
The online open house
Where did all the open houses go?
Open house attendance has decreased and there’s a good reason why.
Once upon a time when buyers would want to view the inside of the home they would contact the listing agent and the listing agent would meet him at the property and show them the house.
Today, if you see a for sale sign, you Google the address and you can see what the house looks like inside through the online listing.
I am noticing more and more that people will disqualify homes based on what they see on the Internet. Therefore, I believe it is critical that a home is displayed with excellence.
If your home is a masterpiece then it should be presented as such.
The Floor Plan
How many times have you looked at a listing online and wondered what the floor plan was like? Do you find yourself trying to piece together the floor plan as you go through the photos? How would you like it if when you looked at a listing you would get a quick overview of each floor in a traditional top-down perspective? Better yet, what if those rooms were labeled?
The Dollhouse View
Wouldn’t it be nice to know how the different floors relate to each other? What’s directly below the master bedroom? Imagine if you could see a dollhouse view like this when you viewed a listing.
Or like this. This incomparable Dollhouse View gives a completely unique sense of the place. See all floors at once!
The Walkthrough- A Five Star Experience*****
Wouldnt it be great if you could be inside this photo an look up and see the ceiling and light fixtures or look down and get a good look at the flooring? Would you like to turn around to see whether that is the entrance behind you or the kitchen? Click on this photo to see what you will find. But come back after for the closing message. I have got exciting news to share!
*This home is not for sale. It is a sample.
All 3 in 1
A 3-D showcase is an online experience that lets homebuyers move through a property and see it from any angle as if they were there.
Tina Plett/Eniko Crozier of Sutton Group-Kilkenny Real Estate came back from the National Association of Realtors Conference and Expo with a new tool called The Matterport. With this tool, we can display our listings as a 360° Virtual Tour, as a floor plan image as well as in a Dollhouse View.
Can you see the benefit of using this tool when listing?
Most showings happen online. The internet is the open house of today.
MATTERPORT 3D IS THE MOST REALISTIC, IMMERSIVE WAY TO EXPERIENCE A PROPERTY ONLINE.
Tina Plett, Sutton Group-Kilkenny Real Estate
If Home Sellers Did This With Their Restaurants, They’d Go Broke
Real Estate is full of anomalies that would never fly in any other industry. It’s not just because of agents either – sometimes it’s the clients themselves who pull crazy things that would never fly anywhere else.
The buyers and sellers I work with are, for the most part, fantastic. I love helping them, working with them, and discovering who they are. But some people – you know, other agents’ clients – I don’t know what happens to their brains when they decide to sell their house. Suddenly they’re not acting like people who have something to sell, but rather like spoiled royal heirs to whom all others must bow. It’s bizarre. All I know is that their salesmanship would bankrupt any restaurant.
If Home Sellers Did This with their Restaurants, They’d Go Broke
We’re Open… NOT
You enter the restaurant, eager for the kind of sauce-laden burger you’ve enjoyed there before. A waitress rushes to greet you at the door, “Sorry, but we’re closed.” You argue that the open sign and hours of operation posted on the door suggest otherwise. She folds her arms and shakes her head. “We’re closed.” You point to the staff wandering about the restaurant serving no one, and to the chef who stands in the kitchen with nothing to do. “Well, I don’t care about any of that,” she argues back, “I have a headache and don’t feel up to this today, so we’re closed. Try again tomorrow.” She then proceeds to shove you out the door. Try again tomorrow? Fat chance.
Super Price Me
Still salivating for a big, saucy burger, you see a diner across the street. It’s an unheard of hole-in-the-wall place, but they have a burger on the sign, so you go in.
You open the laminated two-page menu to discover a wide selection of burgers. Prices start at $50 each, fries are extra. You summon the waitress, and explain there must be some mistake. You have never heard of such burger prices in your life. Others sell for $8. “People can sell their burgers for whatever they like. Mine start at $50.”
You scratch a dried ketchup stain from the menu, and ask what makes these diner burgers so special. “I made them from a recipe handed down to me through four generations. I have great sentimental attachment to each burger I make, and that’s what makes them so valuable.” You really, really wish you could eat a burger, but cannot bring yourself to pay obscene prices. Alas, you must move on and leave the woman with her beloved burgers.
Do You Have The Time?
Wondering if you’ll ever get to eat a burger, you discover another restaurant and try once more. The place is, in fact, open, and the prices on the menu are reasonable. Hope sets in as you wait for your server to arrive at the table. Other customers at tables crane their necks, searching for the server who is nowhere to be seen. Finally, she bursts in and dashes table to table. She takes no orders, she delivers nothing. She only leans in, says a few words, and moves to the next table.
She approaches you, breathless, “You wouldn’t believe the day I’ve had. Between the traffic, meeting the banker and returning calls, it’s tough to find time to work!” She ignores your attempt to get a word in, “So anyway, I have to bring my cat to the vet and pick up some groceries, but then I’ll be back to take your order. Thanks for understanding my demanding schedule.” Her swift exit leaves you puzzled, infuriated, and realizing you may never again taste a restaurant burger.
You might think I’m exaggerating, but these are actual attitudes and behaviours agents and buyers must endure. Please help spread the word that the kinds of numbskullery illustrated here help no one sell their house.
As a buyer or agent, which of these situations have you encountered in your attempt to buy a home?
Before and After – Real Estate Photos
If Real Estate photos are the first impression, a bad photo is the equivalent of putting your foot in your mouth.
It’s no way to say hello.
I hear you asking,”How hard can it be to take a photo?”
Allow me to demonstrate.
Behold the work of an amateur as held up against the work of a professional photographer:
Amateur Bedroom Photo
Professional Bedroom Photo
Amateur Livingroom Photo
Professional Livingroom Photo
Amateur Bathroom Photo
Professional Bathroom Photo
Amateur Kitchen Photo
Professional Kitchen Photo
Amateur Kitchen / Dining photo
Professional Kitchen / Dining Photo
And now you know why I hire a professional photographer for my listings.
Their high quality equipment, artful eye and honed skills are so worth it!
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Free Event – Don’t Be Alone This Christmas Eve!
You know how much I love people, right? It pains me to see when people are taken advantage of, hurt or lonely. It especially tugs at my heart to see people lonely at Christmas. I’ve been there.
I used to ADORE Christmas – think ‘crazy Christmas lady’ and you’re close. I’d decorate early, play music and bake cookies… I’d be the one beaming crazily in the store (maybe even giggling) as I shopped for gifts. And I L-O-V-E-D spending Christmas Eve with my family.
But divorce changed it – took it all away. Christmas Eve became the loneliest night of the year for me. I understand now why some people don’t like Christmas – it can be excruciating for the lonely. It can be positively joyless.
But I’m taking the joy back! No more lonely Christmas Eves for me – and hopefully, not for you either. For the second consecutive year, I’m hosting a free, public event for anyone who is alone on Christmas Eve. Adults are welcome to attend this free Christmas dinner. It’s a great opportunity to meet new people, get together with friends, and surround yourself with people. You are not alone! Come on out to the Lions’ Club on Christmas Eve from 6:00-10:00pm. Admission is free, and all adults are welcome. The feast will be supplied by Pioneer Catering, there will be gifts too! You are invited! Please come out and join us.
Don’t be alone this Christmas.
Canada Day
Happy Canada day! I am pleased to be working for a Canadian Company that just celebrated 30 years in business and is growing across the country! Manitoba has almost 150 Sutton REALTORS. 
I added a Blog
I have added a blog. My desire is to share thoughts, experiences, humor and ideas with any one interested in the Blog Blaw Blah of a REALTOR. This will NOT be a column for stats, news, and data about real estate. This is about the life and the journey of a Mobile Agent!
